Tensions escalated at the budget and planning forum on March 13 as faculty, staff, and community members expressed their resistance towards impending budget cuts. 

Of 50 attendees, many faculty, staff, and community members expressed their hopes that the forum– which took place in the Student Center at Sonoma State– would be an open discussion to work towards an alternative plan for the upcoming budget cuts. Instead, the administration doubled down and reiterated that the cuts were going to happen.

“The cuts have been made,” said Sonoma State Provost Karen Moranski, “Nobody likes them, nobody wants to make them, but the cuts have been made. The budget cuts are scheduled to move but we know from the legislative hearing that there is advocacy, and there are some ideas that we might be able to roll some of those cuts back.”

The advocacy mentioned by Moranski is the CSU system calling on Gov. Newsom to reconsider  the $372.5 million cut in the CSU budget.

Attendees at the forum expressed disapproval, with many asking why their effort was going towards “hypotheticals” rather than plans for advocacy. 

The forum split up into smaller groups for roundtable discussions where attendees could pitch their ideas for which programs to bring back if the CSU budget cut was reversed, or when funds become available in the future. 

During the discussions at the tables, administrators stood in the middle of the room and talked amongst themselves rather than participating in discussions with the community. 

“I was expecting this to be a give-and-take, not breaking stuff into tables,” said SSU Men’s Assistant Soccer Coach Benjamin Ziemer. 

“Obviously having the decision-makers involved would be something but seeing how they’re just hanging out, talking, chatting in the middle of the room with no apparent interest,” Ziemer continued.

Sonoma State’s Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer M. Monir Ahmed said the forum was a way for the community to talk about what should be brought back in the future. 

“Let’s say if we had some funds, what is the campus priority?” said Ahmed, “That’s really what we’re trying to figure out. What do we collectively think will be the best use of the resources, if we could muster some resources.” 

At the forum, a presentation showed the current CSU budget and how the deficit of $23.9 million came to be. The presentation also showcased Interim President Emily Cutrer’s proposed plan. Cutrer was not in attendance at the forum. Her plan forecasted savings of $23.5 million. 

$2.9 million of the proposed plan comes from “estimates” from “exploring alternative funding sources” and “exploring multi-university collaboration.”

During the presentation, administrators did not mention the Marina Crossing Apartments. The campus spent $42 million on the housing units in Petaluma. The units, meant for Sonoma State staff and faculty, now only house 17 staff and faculty, while the rest of the complex has 60 tenants from the general public, and 13 units are still empty.

The budget and planning forum occurred just after the recent lawsuit filed by seven Sonoma State student athletes. The lawsuit alleges that SSU misled recruited students to enroll, despite the administration’s knowledge of the cuts beforehand, while students who enrolled in the spring semester didn’t find out until the semester began. The lawsuit is requesting a judge to intervene and halt the elimination of all NCAA II sports.

When asked whether the lawsuit would impact the planning of budget cuts, Moranski declined to comment, stating it was a legal matter and separate issue. 

During the forum Ziemer asked administrators where the community could view the “minutes and agenda” for the planning process which led to the current budget cuts. According to Ziemer, administrators told him he did “not have the right” to that information.

Moranski told the Star the minutes did not exist.

“There aren’t a set of minutes that say, the process was a very iterative one that changed up until the very last minute,” said Moranski, “It’s not a thing where you can point to one moment and say this is the moment where all the decisions were made.”